Magpie

Last weekend was the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. It was a wet day on Saturday, so we didn't visit the plot but Sunday I was showing a new plotholder around so I got to the site at about 12:30.

It was an extremely windy day, but the sun was shining much of the time. I sat in the doorway of the polytunnel, with my flask of hot coffee and big camera, so that I could zoom in on any birds who decided to show up.

The numbers weren't huge, but this is what I saw:
4 x Robins
2 x Dunnocks
2 x Magpies
1 x Wren
2 x Wood Pigeon
1 x Chaffinch
1 x Great Tit
1 x Fieldfare (very exciting that he turned up!)

This is the Fieldfare - they're the same size as a thrush (in the same family). Unfortunately it stayed amongst the branches which blocked my view rather - but I could see enough for identification purposes (we initially thought it was a Redwing).

The magpies and pigeons weren't unexpected!

And we like to see the dunnocks.

I couldn't get any more photos. I showed our newest plotholder around and once he'd selected his plot I returned home to make carrot and leek soup (added a bit too much chilli powder, cough cough!). Very tasty though.

This photo is mostly to show off my funky new cutlery

I picked more leeks than intended because they look a bit ropey at the root end. I'm not sure whether I put the fork through them or if it's bug damage - but there was plenty left after I chopped that off. The HoneyBoat squash is for dinner this week.

I know I like the Honeyboat but I think the Crown Prince was probably the most tasty squash I've had this year. I had two delicious lunchtime salads with cold roasted squash and Peppadew sweet peppers.

I struggled to find a song for today's post, but opted for this one by Beth Orton (no-one's written a song called Fieldfare, unfortunately!)

A very Good Friday!

I know! It looks like a fake! This is actual blue sky over the allotment today! It was quite unexpected but so welcome.

We managed about 4 hours of digging, chatting, digging, burning, digging and chatting. So nice to see our fellow allotment holders.

We managed to burn the waste that's been waiting on Plot 8 for months. Unfortunately the rusted bottom of the HAHA incinerator disintegrated during the process but we got a good fire going and Kerry joined in the pyromania with her dried waste too :-)

The ash from the fire was mixed into the area where we're sowing wildflowers and night stocks this year.







Jamie dug over this year's potato quarter and mixed in some of the 6X fertiliser. The potatoes won't be going in just yet but at least the plot is completely ready for them now.

All the while we were digging we could hear the contestants in the Devizes to Westminster canoe race going by on the Kennet and Avon Canal. I spied through the hedge for a time and managed to get this shot. I bet the canoeists were happy that it wasn't quite so cold today, but I'm not surprised they needed the big gloves!

We went home achey but happy that we left the plot looking worked, if not really growing yet!

I actually spotted a different insect on the plot today so will be updating the wildlife blog, once I've identified this beastie with the help of the Wildaboutbritain forum ...

More Days like this, please!

That's more like it! Three days with no rainfall. We've had an inch of rain since our last visit to the plot a week ago -- evidence in the form of our new rain gauge...

It was so good to be digging the plot and having other plotholders to watch and talk to for a change!

The ground is muddy but very diggable (doesn't look like a word, but we know what it means!) and last year's potato quarter looks pretty much ready for this years onions now - we're expecting Thompson & Morgan to deliver our Santero F1 onion sets very soon, joining the garlic which is looking good - 15 bulbs have sprouted.


Garlic shooting up well

While Jamie was doing most of the digging I was clearing away the beets which had grown to mammoth size. Although Boltardy I can't think that they wouldn't be woody so they'll be thrown away but I left them on a spare bit of plot for the mice to enjoy for a bit. As I was pulling them I saw a lot of centipedes, spiders and slugs. Hopefully the birds will deal with clearing the slugs and the slug eggs we found. See the Wildlife blog for more

 

A walk past the plot (and the last 3 years)

We went for a walk over Freemans Marsh in the sun this afternoon. There were a few moorhen on the river and a beautiful swan but we didn't see anything else of interest. The ground was very soggy (well, it is the marsh :-)) but not as bad as we've seen it before - I managed to keep my socks dry and wasn't wearing wellies!

We were going to walk past the allotments but saw Malcolm so went in and chatted to him for a good while. The ground is rather wet for digging and the weeds continue to grow in our absence!
There were quite a few fellow plotholders around and I couldn't face talking to them all so we decided against walking down to our plot (shame, I wish we had now) - I guess that's the drawback of having such a friendly site  :-)

As I was lazy, here are pics from around this date over the history of our plot (unfortunately not from the same vantage point!!)


This week in 2011



This week in 2010

This week in 2009